Kakadu dunnart

Sminthopsis bindi

Blamed on cats

IUCN status: Near Threatened

EPBC Predator Threat Rating: High/Very High

IUCN claim: “Predation by feral cats may also be a threat.”

Studies in support

Cats hunt Kakadu dunnarts (Stokeld et al. 2016).

Studies not in support

No studies

Is the threat claim evidence-based?

There are no studies linking cats to Kakadu dunnarts.

Evidence linking Sminthopsis bindi to cats. Systematic review of evidence for an association between Sminthopsis bindi and cats. Positive studies are in support of the hypothesis that cats contribute to the decline of Sminthopsis bindi, negative studies are not in support. Predation studies include studies documenting hunting or scavenging; baiting studies are associations between poison baiting and threatened mammal abundance where information on predator abundance is not provided; population studies are associations between threatened mammal and predator abundance. See methods section in [current submission] for details on evidence categories.

References

Current submission (2023) Scant evidence that introduced predators cause extinctions.

EPBC. (2015) Threat Abatement Plan for Predation by Feral Cats. Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999, Department of Environment, Government of Australia. (Table A1).

IUCN Red List. https://www.iucnredlist.org/ Accessed June 2023

Stokeld, D., Gentles, T., Young, S., Hill, B., Fisher, A., Woinarski, J. and Gillespie, G., 2016. Experimental evaluation of the role of feral cat predation in the decline of small mammals in Kakadu National Park. NT Department of Land Resource Management, Berrimah.